HUTCHINSON, Kan. – It’s day nine at the Kansas State Fair and today is Arts and Culture Day. This your chance to learn about arts and culture. You can also check out demonstrations on the Pride of Kansas stage.

There will also be an antique farm equipment show near the Administration building from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Also today is the Woodcarvers Auction at 3 p.m. at the Bretz and Young Injury Lawyers Arena.

And at 7:30 p.m. tonight is Hanson at the Nex-Tech Wireless Grandstand.

HUTCHINSON, Kan. — North American Midway is a big part of the Kansas State Fair each year. The company provides plenty of rides to make up the Midway.

Pat Repp, manager of the Midway in Hutchinson, talked about how tough it is to get all the rides in place.

“It’s quite complicated. We probably have 45 or 46 rides on the Midway,” Repp said. “We came out of two locations in Illinois, one in Wisconsin and one in Missouri, so we all joined here for this event. It required almost 55 semi trucks and trailers of loads to get here. It’s quite an undertaking quite frankly to get everything here and the people and with the Labor Day holiday being before the fair, you kind of lose a day.”

In other words, it normally takes about five days to get everything in place and set up.

With some injuries occurring on rides at different venues across the country, you may be wondering how safe the rides are at the fair. Repp says they were inspected by the state, but they also have daily inspections for each ride on the grounds.

“Each ride operator has a check sheet daily. That ride cannot open until the check sheet is turned in a daily inspection,” Repp said.

Customer safety is a priority, but Repp must also ensure the safety of workers. “Just as important as the patrons are our employees,” Repp said. “They’re working around heavy machinery and there could be injuries and there have been at different carnivals and what not, but you know, we make sure they have their hard hats on if they’re climbing, they gotta have harnesses on. Safety not only for our customers, but also for our employees is utmost for us.”

The North American Midway is the largest traveling amusement park in the world.

HUTCHINSON, Kan.— The Hutchinson Housing Commission and the Hutchinson City Council met to discuss the rental inspection program. But for all of the discussion and complaints from some landlords in the city, few if any showed up to hear what the Commission had to say. “I was a little surprised that the room was empty,” Planning Director Ryan Hvitlok said. The meeting was held at the Fire Command and Training Center to make room for a large gathering but few showed up.

Hvitlok was happy with most things from the meeting which included questions from the Council on various concerns and topics. “It went very well if one is looking for this program to continue,” Hvitlok said. “The council had some good questions, but they did agree to continue to work on this program and directed staff to take it back to the housing commission.”

The proposed ordinance requires all rental units in the City to be licensed. Renting an unlicensed unit is a violation of City Code and a Class C misdemeanor. The license will replace the previous requirement of registration. The fee for licensing a unit is unchanged from the registration fee. The main benefit of a rental license is that the City would have the ability to place on probation, suspend, or in the worst-case scenario, revoke a rental license for code violations. The Building Trades Board would serve as the appeal body for license actions. The City would post a list of licensed units on their website under the proposed amendment.

The second part of the proposed program is an incentive program to encourage interior inspections. A unit that requests an interior inspection shall be eligible, after noted deficiencies are corrected, for additional recognition as a “best-practice” unit from the City. Best-practice units would receive a 25% reduction on their license fee for the year following the inspection. These units would also be provided signage or an insignia from the City for the landlord to advertise its status. The City would also maintain a list of best-practice units on its website.

Some of the questions from the council included how to pay for the program and if landlords would have to bear the financial burden of the program or if it should be a yearly budget matter. Other concerns expressed included the ability to keep landlords from retaliating against tenants if they file a complaint with the city regarding living conditions. Hvitlok says he has talked with other communities and that does not seem to be a problem.

Now its time for the commission to go back to work on the proposal and to get landlords involved. “ We’re going to reach out to the landlords and let them know that this is going before the Housing Commission Sept. 25th, and if they want to provide feedback that’s a great opportunity for them to do so,” Hvilok said.

If all goes as planned the matter will go back to the council during their Oct. 1st meeting.

PRETTY PRAIRIE, Kan. — Pretty Prairie officials announced today that the high school and middle school campus was placed on lockdown. The district says the administration and Reno County Sheriff’s Office assessed an online situation Monday morning.

According to the sheriff’s office, an online threat was made to the schools on Sunday. The matter was discovered and law enforcement was alerted Monday morning. An investigation led to the conclusion that the threat was not credible. However, the schools were placed in lockdown for about three minutes as a precaution. A juvenile case has been started by the sheriff’s department, but no other details are being released.

The district says no students were in danger and the situation is being handled by the Reno County Sheriff’s Office.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Five grants totaling $400,000 have been awarded to help prevent unsafe working conditions in and around U.S. mines.

The U.S. Labor Department’s Mine Safety and Health Administration announced the funding through its Brookwood-Sago grant program. The program was established in 2006 in honor of 25 miners who died in 2001 in Brookwood, Alabama, at the Jim Walter Resources No. 5 mine and in 2006 in Buckhannon, West Virginia, at the Sago Mine.

The grant recipients include Hutchinson Community College in Hutchinson, Kansas; Penn State University in University Park, Pennsylvania; the United Mine Workers of America Career Centers Inc. in Prosperity, Pennsylvania; the University of Arizona in Tucson; and West Virginia University Research Corp. in Morgantown.

HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) — Western Kansas’ congressman launched a Senate campaign on Saturday, pitching himself to fellow Republicans as a pragmatic conservative who can keep the seat in GOP hands by thwarting immigration hardliner Kris Kobach’s bid for the party’s nomination.

Two-term Rep. Roger Marshall entered the race facing some skepticism from the right despite his anti-abortion and gun-rights views and a consistent record of voting with President Donald Trump. Marshall ended June with $1.4 million in campaign funds, giving him a jump on fundraising.

Marshall kicked off his campaign at the state fair. In an AP interview beforehand, he stressed his rural ties and portrayed himself as part of a line of western Kansas congressmen who later served in the Senate, including former Senate Majority Leader and Kansas political icon Bob Dole.

Marshall and Kobach are among five GOP candidates actively campaigning to replace four-term Republican Sen. Pat Roberts, who is not seeking re-election in 2020. Kobach, a former Kansas secretary of state, built a national profile by advocating tough immigration policies, though he lost the Kansas governor’s race last year after his take-no-prisoners style alienated moderate voters.

“Nobody is more pro-life or pro-Second Amendment than I am,” Marshall said. “Am I a kinder, gentler voice? Probably. Am I going work across the aisle to solve problems? You bet.”

Many Republicans fear a repeat of last year, when Kobach narrowly won a crowded GOP primary only to lose the governor’s race to Democrat Laura Kelly. Some prominent Republicans have been nudging U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to jump in, though Marshall said Pompeo was “encouraging” about Marshall’s candidacy when they spoke a few weeks ago.

Marshall, who describes himself as a “fifth-generation farm kid,” said he is confident he can win a crowded GOP primary by building on his western Kansas political base. His 1st District covers roughly 60 percent of the state and Dole, Roberts and Kansas’ other senator, Republican Jerry Moran, all held the House seat previously.

The safe Republican district’s GOP voters tend to turn out in disproportionately high percentages in primaries, putting Marshall in “a very good spot,” said Bob Beatty, a Washburn University political scientist.

“He fits the classic Kansas U.S. Senate mold, the traditional mold,” Beatty said.

Kobach relied on a strong conservative base to win the Republican nomination for governor. He contends that he’ll benefit from the greater voter turnout in a presidential election year and a focus on issues such as immigration. He said in opening his campaign in July that Kansas doesn’t need “a quiet senator.”

Marshall said he’s determined to fight what he calls “socialist” proposals from Democrats, such as “Medicare for All” government health coverage and the sweeping Green New Deal aimed at combatting climate change.

Some Republicans question whether Marshall can win over the hard right and even described him as a moderate in the weeks before he entered the race. The conservative interest group Club for Growth gives him a 61 percent rating through 2018, which is the lowest for any Republican member of Kansas’ congressional delegation.

Marshall, a 59-year-old physician, won his House seat in 2016 by ousting tea party Rep. Tim Huelskamp in the GOP primary. Huelskamp had clashed with House leaders and was stripped of the state’s traditional seat on the Agriculture Committee, which was returned to Marshall.

“He can’t get the Huelskamp people,” said Tim Shallenburger, a former state treasurer and Kansas Republican Party chairman.

Also actively campaigning for the GOP nomination are Kansas Senate President Susan Wagle, Dave Lindstrom, a Kansas City-area businessman and former Kansas City Chiefs player, and Bryan Pruitt, a conservative gay commentator. Matt Schlapp, the American Conservative Union’s president, and Alan Cobb, president and CEO of the Kansas Chamber of Commerce, also are considering the race.

The Democrats with active campaigns are former Rep. Nancy Boyda, former federal prosecutor Barry Grissom and Usha Reddi, a city commissioner in the northeast Kansas town of Manhattan.

Marshall had the backing of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in his 2016 race against Huelskamp. But Scott Reed, who is the group’s senior political strategist and who managed Dole’s 1996 presidential campaign, said it also has encouraged Cobb to explore the race and is waiting to see who runs and “who’s making their marks.”

“We’ll get with many of the other right-of-center groups in D.C. and in Kansas and try to make a decision all together,” he said. “This is a must win.

HUTCHINSON, Kan. — For the first time ever, the Kansas State Fair will be entirely powered by Kansas wind energy.

Enel Green Power, in partnership with Westar Energy and KCP&L, is retiring renewable energy credits equivalent to the amount of electricity expected to be consumed by the 2019 Kansas State Fair from the Diamond Vista wind farm in Kansas. This marks the first time that 100% of the Kansas State Fair’s energy usage will be offset by renewable energy credits.

Diamond Vista, owned and operated by Enel Green Power, is a 300 MW wind farm located in Marion and Dickinson counties that began operation at the end of 2018. Diamond Vista’s 95 wind turbines produce about 1,300 GWh per year, enough to meet the electricity needs of more than 100,000 Kansas households. The 1 GWh of clean, renewable energy generated for the 2019 Kansas State Fair is equivalent to 123 homes’ energy use and avoids greenhouse gas emissions equal to removing 150 passenger cars off the road for one year.

In Kansas, Enel Green Power operates six wind power plants, representing more than $2.1 billion in total investment and more than 210 full-time employees working in the state. With its acquisition of Lenexa-based developer Tradewind Energy this year, Enel Green Power has expanded its presence in Kansas, where the company is the largest wind operator with more than 1.4 GW of operational wind capacity.

During the past decade, Westar Energy and KCP&L, which merged in 2018, have increased their generation from renewables by more than 12.5 times, while reducing carbon dioxide emissions by nearly 40% from 2005 levels. Today, Westar and KCP&L customers get nearly a third of their energy from wind and another 25% from nuclear power. So far in 2019, nearly 55% of energy is coming from emission-free resources.

Updated Sept. 6 at 1:42 p.m.

HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The suspect accused in the strangulation and beating of a Hutchinson woman on Aug. 24 is now formally charged with intentional and premeditated first-degree murder.

The victim, Lora Stratton, never regained consciousness and died at a Wichita hospital.

Deputy District Attorney Thomas Stanton was granted a motion amending charges against 24-year-old Isaac Ervin to first-degree murder.

Stanton’s request to have the bond increased to $250,000 was denied by Reno County District Judge Joe McCarville. He says the $100,000 bond is sufficient to keep Ervin in jail.

The co-defendant, 22-year-old Delshay Visonhaler, will not be charged with murder. Visonhaler is charged with reckless aggravated battery and obstruction.

Stratton was found unconscious and face down in an alley in the 700 block of West 7th.

Ervin appeared via video feed from the Reno County Correctional Facility with his attorney, Steve Osburn, in the courtroom. The family of the victim was also present, some wept during the hearing.

HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The victim of strangulation and beating two weeks ago in Hutchinson has died. The Reno County District Attorney’s Office confirmed that Lora Stratton died at a Wichita hospital. She never regained consciousness.

Deputy District Attorney Thomas Stanton says he will be filing a motion amending charges against 24-year-old Isaac Ervin to first-degree murder. Ervin is expected to be before Judge Joe McCarville on the amended complaint Friday.

Stanton says no additional charges are anticipated at this time against the co-defendant, 22-year-old Delshay Visonhaler, who is charged with one count of reckless aggravated battery and one count of obstruction.

Stratton was found unconscious in an alley in the 700 block of West 7th Avenue Aug. 24. She was taken to Hutchinson Regional Medical Center and then to Wichita.

HUTCHINSON, Kan. — A day after Hutchinson Police Chief Jeff Hooper announced he was pulling out of the Drug Enforcement Unit because it was a “reactive” approach to crime, Sheriff Randy Henderson let his feelings be known. He explained why he believes the DEU is vital to drug crime in the city.

Henderson started his career in the DEU from 1988-1997. “I know the drug culture not only here but throughout parts of the world making cases connected to Mexico and Belize,” Henderson said in a statement. “We had connections with meth labs in Escondido, CA, dealers from Snohomish, WA, gang members from L.A., Denver and Wichita, to name only a few. You can’t totally work drugs in a geographical area.”

Henderson says you need to catch the outside influence coming in and not just sit on potential drug dealers in the community. “They come in from all over the place and it’s why we have people working with Wichita, KBI, DEA, etc., even some undercover,” Henderson noted. “You need to have people in the weeds so to speak. No, it’s not flashy and doesn’t get daily or weekly headlines, but when it breaks loose, like the three-year investigation in Riley County recently, it does make an impact.”

Henderson says it’s like medicine, you don’t know how sick you would be without taking it. We don’t know what the drug flow into our community would be like if our guys weren’t out there working with other agencies, disrupting shipments and making buys. “I remember back in the early ’90s when our president dressed down the Mexico president, saying they needed to stop the traffickers from bringing drugs into America. The Mexican president said that would only happen when the Americans quit desiring the drugs,” Henderson said.

Henderson did want to stress that the approach the HPD is taking is positive. “Don’t get me wrong, HPD officers are doing great work and it’s a welcome change from the past, and I am proud of them and the chief’s leadership,” Henderson stressed. Henderson still stressed the need to work on the bigger picture.

One area that caused some issues was a gap in communication when the new approach by the HPD began. Henderson said that a lack of communication could cause both law enforcement agencies to be “sitting on a house” for two very different reasons. One for a local arrest and one where the DEU may be looking for a bigger fish in the case. Henderson says the work between the two agencies is good now.

Henderson also wanted to stress that, while the crime numbers are down, some of the reasons for the drop is because of programs within the Reno County Correctional Facility. “Some of your stats could be connected to the programs in the jail, Oxford House and New Beginnings,” Henderson said. “This is the group taking the desire away for the drugs and helping cut down on crimes as well.” In January through March of 2018, jail numbers were at 204 inmates a day average. For the first quarter of 2019, the numbers are down to 176. “I know all of that drop is not due to what the correctional facility is doing,” Henderson noted. “But we have graduated 22 inmates from the GED program and 14 of those have never returned to jail.”

Henderson says that drug crime reduction has to be a team effort and feels they are covering a necessary area that needs attention.